A self-described body modification artist has confronted his victim’s mother from a Sydney jail after discouraging his daughter from seeking medical advice for an infected hand implant. .
Brendan Leigh Russell, 41, was convicted of manslaughter, with intentional grievous bodily harm and female genital mutilation, related to three different women.
Brendan Leigh Russell out of court in 2021. He is now in custody awaiting sentencing. Credit: AAP
Russell implanted a silicone snowflake under the skin of the deceased’s right hand on March 20, 2017 at his Erina Fair lounge on the Central Coast. The woman cannot be identified for legal reasons.
Judge Helen Syme said the evidence and overwhelming opinion of the doctors was that on April 10, 2017, the woman “needed urgent and meaningful medical care.”
“The defendant discouraged her from seeking this advice even though she was well aware of the state of her hand’s infection, the result of a procedure for which she was initially responsible,” she said in her November sentence.
He said Russell’s actions had included avoiding telling the victim to seek medical attention urgently, and saying he “shouldn’t worry and take more migraine medications for pain.”
The trial heard that the victim had complained of increasing pain and bleeding, and saw Russell repeatedly on April 10, when he repositioned the implant and inserted another into his thumb.
“[Her] the hand became painful and swollen, and he again visited the accused on two occasions to treat the infection. Less than two days after the visit, the deceased was found dead at her home, “the statement said.
The woman had called Russell on April 11 and had spoken to a neighbor from her balcony around 1 a.m. on April 12. Around 6 a.m., her daughter alerted neighbors “of a problem with her mother” and found the woman “lifeless but still hot.” Despite emergency efforts, she was pronounced dead.